Review by Booklist Review
Miki expects perfection. She won't eat broken cookies. After losing Owlie (a lovable stuffed animal) outdoors and finding him with one wing missing, she can't accept his imperfection. Miki's obaachan, arrives and gives her a beautiful blue-and-white teacup that reminds Miki of her family's beach vacation. She loves the cup, and when she accidentally breaks it, she's distraught. Obaachan fixes it using a Japanese practice that includes mending the crack lines with lacquer and gold. Miki enables herself to continue appreciating the cup's beauty by associating the jagged golden lines with lightning seen during a storm at the beach. Miki and Obaachan give Owlie a new wing, and Miki, who no longer prizes perfection, still loves to cuddle with him. The appended author's note mentions Brown's appreciation for Japanese pottery as well as an explanation of "the art of kintsugi, in which broken fragments are mended with lacquer and gold pigment." Jones contributes the clearly drawn, emotionally resonant mixed-media artwork using a combination of pen-and-ink, watercolor, gouache, watercolor pencil, and digital elements. The straightforward storytelling and illustration, the portrayal of a strong intergenerational relationship, and the antiperfectionist theme make this thought-provoking book a memorable one as well.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Miki Amelia Masuda won't eat broken cookies or wear torn trousers--she likes "everything to be perfect." When her grandmother, Obaachan, presents her with a teacup from Japan, "white on top like the clouds and blue on the bottom like the ocean," Miki is enchanted. Then, one evening, she drops the cup. Naturalistic mixed-media spreads by Jones (Niki Nakayama) carefully show the broken pieces reflecting the distress on Miki's face. When Obaachan repairs the cup via kintsugi, the cracks are finished with gold, but the child remains distraught: "It was fixed... but not really fixed. Not one bit!" It's as if Obaachan is "showing off the cracks." Methodical text from Brown (The Very Unfortunate Wish of Melony Yoshimura), making a picture book debut, conveys Miki's growth toward a new understanding of perfection. Like a beach she adores following a storm, the cup is not the same, "but it was still beautiful." It's a moment of maturing captured in real time, supported by understated guidance that models how to repair and restore instead of insisting on flawlessness. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Penny Moore, Aevitas Creative Management. Illustrator's agent: Christy Ewers, CAT Agency. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
What do you do when your favorite things are no longer perfect? Golden endpapers crisscrossed with mysterious, uneven lines, followed by an overhead illustration of a child's room where everything is neatly put away, foreshadow the conflict at the center of this tale. Miki Amelia Masuda, a third-generation Japanese American girl, likes "everything to be perfect." No broken cookie for her, no torn pants; she even spurns her beloved stuffed toy Owlie when his wing comes off. One day, Miki's obaachan (grandmother) gives her a ceramic teacup, which Miki loves drinking from. But then she drops the cup. Miki is inconsolable, her stricken face reflected in a teacup shard on the floor. To reassure her, Obaachan teaches her the Japanese practice of kintsugi, meaning "to join together with gold." Before long, the teacup is whole again, restored with shiny paint along the cracks. As Obaachan mends Miki's torn pants and Owlie's wing, she shows Miki that perfect isn't always best and that mended things can still have just as much heart. Brown's poignant, tender prose expertly depicts Miki's emotional ups and downs, enhanced by Jones' sweet yet elegantly composed art, full of light and vivid color. Together, author and illustrator bring to life the quiet dramas of childhood, gently imparting a powerful lesson that will linger with readers. The perfect tale to demonstrate the importance of finding beauty in life's imperfections. (author's note)(Picture book. 3-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
